National pride and sorrow: attending the 150th Latvian Song and Dance Festival as the daughter of refugees

With song we have been victorious.” These were the words of the newly elected president of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, at the closing ceremony of the 150th Latvian Song and Dance festival, held from June 30 to July 9.

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https://theconversation.com/national-pride-and-sorrow-attending-the-150th-latvian-song-and-dance-festival-as-the-daughter-of-refugees-205398https://theconversation.com/national-pride-and-sorrow-attending-the-150th-latvian-song-and-dance-festival-as-the-daughter-of-refugees-205398
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Sunday, July 23, 2023
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UNESCO, Song, Ceramic, World war, Daugava, Freedom, Culture, Latvian Song and Dance Festival, Tree, Flower, Castle Hill Light, History, Singing Revolution, Sadness, Moon, Ethnic group, Nature, River, Refugee, Singing, Castle, Program, Rain, Music, Entertainment, Film industry, Nightclub, Russians, Esplanade, USSR, Silver, Baltic states, Jews
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LITHUANIA, ESTONIA, LATVIA, GERMANY, RUSSIA, POLAND, UKRAINE
Summary
Key Points: 
  • With song we have been victorious.” These were the words of the newly elected president of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, at the closing ceremony of the 150th Latvian Song and Dance festival, held from June 30 to July 9.
  • Rinkēvičs was greeted by an audience of 50,000 members of the public and 21,000 performers who cheered and waved Latvian flags.
  • He spoke about the power of song to unite and give hope to the Latvian people and to reinforce its centuries old cultural traditions.

Joy about culture; sadness about history

    • Next to me, two Ukrainian journalists wept as the orchestra played their national anthem.
    • In the televised replays of the festival, cameras zoomed in on teary singers, dancers and musicians of all ages.
    • On August 23 1989, two million people from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia formed a human chain over 600 kilometres long to join their capital cities.

A free Latvia

    • After the second world war, when Latvia was part of the USSR, the festival was used to promote Soviet ideology.
    • Gaismas Pils (The Castle of Light), composed in 1899 by Jāzeps Vītols, tells of a sunken castle that rises to announce the rebirth of a free Latvia.
    • Participants from Latvia and from abroad paraded in national costume along Freedom Boulevard, cheered on by enthusiastic crowds and unfazed by downpours of rain.
    • Although I have been to Latvia many times, this was my very first experience of the Song and Dance Festival.
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